Herding in Nagoya
by The Professional Otaku
Summary: Set in Chapter 25, when the Sanguinem guards go out to find and herd more livestock (you and your little siblings) for the nobles converging in Nagoya, and Mika almost succumbs to his thirst for human blood. In this small tweak, the little girl is your younger sister, and you take her place, and an interesting twist occurs with Mikaela being slightly more affectionate than usual


I held my younger siblings' hands tightly as the vampires milled about in apparent boredom and herded us into big airship-type things. Mayu was shaking and gripping my hand so tight, I thought she'd cut off my circulation. Her older brother, Jay, held my other hand, but was more occupied with glaring at the vampires around us. Many of the other children had been bitten, and a few killed on accident, drained completely of their blood, by them. All of the vampires had fed off of one or more of us.

Except the blond. I'd overheard the purple-haired one, Lacus Welt, call him Mika, and the black-haired gloomy looking one called him Mikaela. I wondered why he didn't bite any of the humans.

Before we climbed into the ship, I saw him and Lacus chatting.

Although, I wouldn't exactly call it a chat, since 'Mikaela' looked none too pleased to be interacting with the purple-haired vampire.

A bit after that, he started to chug something, but dropped it before he could finish and staggered around, looking to be in a lot of pain. The blond coughed, hacking up blood, whether or not it was his own remains a mystery. He straightened and stared directly at my sister before disappearing. Alarmed, I pushed her and Jay behind me, towards the jet, moving in front of where she had been, just as a steel, gloved hand wrapped around my throat and slammed me roughly to the ground. I winced, but didn't do anything to resist. This close, I could tell that he had huge, sky-blue eyes, unlike the other vamps. He loomed over my neck, fangs bared, moving closer at an alarming rate, until I could feel his hot, wet panting on my throat.

"Oh, hey" Lacus remarked nonchalantly. "So you're going to drink after all."

The blond, Mikaela, flinched to a sudden halt and pulled back a bit to stare fearfully at me. I was a little scared, but more curious, coughing a bit in my struggle to breathe. He removed his hand from around my neck and quickly moved off of me, and I sat up cautiously, not wanting to startle him back into biting me, now that he'd changed his mind. I sat up slowly, rubbing my throat, and stayed silent while he shook imperceptibly.

"If you're going to drink," a hooded, probably lower-ranked, vampire said harshly, obviously not respecting him, "be quick. Our team has collected its quota of humans."

"We need to take them to Nagoya," his buddy continued. Just then, my idiotic, caring, sweet younger sister ran up, sobbing.

"Big sis!" she cried, throwing her arms around me. At the same time, Jay ran up nervously, eyeing the vamps as though they would kill him for no reason, and tugged Mayu back behind him protectively. He then proceeded to glare at Mikaela while holding a trembling Mayu.

"(Y/N)" he said lowly, reaching for my arm slowly. "Get back here."

I made little calming motions, staring at the blond vampire. He stared at my siblings with an almost unreadable expression on his fine features.

I, however, recognized it as guilt.

Guilt

And longing.

Mayu stared back fearfully and huddled closer to Jay. The vampire's eyebrows rose together, and he looked like an abandoned, abused puppy, and my heart wrenched in sympathy, and I felt my expression mirror his for a fraction of a second. I hesitantly reached out and touched his arm lightly, and he flinched back quicker than my eyes could follow. "Send the chopper up," he told the guard lowly. I ushered my siblings to get into the chopper at this. I'd heard that the vampires in Nagoya wouldn't hurt their human livestock, which was why the vampire patrols here fed so much straight from us.

"Aren't you going to drink?" the guard asked, voice heavy with criticism, doubt, and extreme dislike-bordering on hatred.

"Y-Yeah…" I managed to stammer out, earning a surprised glance from the guard and 'Mikaela'. "Aren't you?" I wasn't particularly crazy about the idea of letting a clearly starving vampire drink from me, but if it was needed so my family wouldn't be bitten again, I would allow it.

The blond stared at me with glazed blue eyes, as if he was remembering something painful from his own past, then glared at me, eyebrows lowered. "No," he snapped at me, before turning to the guard. "I don't need any. Send the chopper up," he repeated impatiently.

The guard shrugged and grabbed my arm, and I winced, thinking he was crushing my bones within his iron grip. However, I couldn't help but notice that the blonde's grip had been stronger, even though he apparently hadn't fed. The guard hauled me up and tossed me back towards my family, but was suddenly stopped by the blonde. "Did you change your mind again?" the guard asked, irritated. "Make up your mind, half-breed."

The blonde's bangs covered his eyes, but by the tension in his body, I could tell he was trying hard not to rip off the guard's smug head. "Yes, I'm going to drink." He muttered, resigned. "I want those three," he said, gesturing to me and my siblings. "You've already collected more than your quota, haven't you?"

The guard nodded and yanked Jay and Mayu to their feet, and I scrambled after them, before throwing them to the blond. He caught Jay and Mayu easily, and kept the both of them contained by gripping their wrists. He glanced at me coldly where I stood, frozen. "I suggest you follow if you want your siblings' deaths to be quick and painless," he told me, voice dripping with venom. I scrambled to follow, anxiety welling up for the younger (L/N)'s he held in a vice-like grip.

Once we got a sufficient distance away from the helicopters-my siblings kicking and crying the whole way-he let them go, and they immediately ran to me, shock and fear written all over their faces. I caught them and pushed them behind my back protectively, eyeing the blond. "W-Why-"

"Run." He said simply, glaring at us. "Now, if you want to live."

"But…why would you help us?" I asked, curious, but still grateful. "I mean…don't you n-need blood?" He flinched slightly, casting his eyes down in guilt.

"No," he snapped quickly. "I don't. Now, get out of here, humans."

Mayu stepped back fearfully at his cold voice, and Jay with her, to protect her, but I stood my ground, facing down this apparent 'half-breed'. "No," I replied gently, causing his head to snap up and those blue eyes to glare at me icily. He growled a bit, but I cut him off. "I need to know why I can trust you, if at all. How do I know you're not just letting us go so you can hunt us down for sport?"

He looked genuinely hurt at that for a moment, before he sighed. "You're cautious," he begrudgingly complimented, as though he'd found something in common with me. "I don't drink human blood," he admitted lowly. "I'm not a full vampire."

"Is that why your eyes are such a pretty blue?" This slipped out of my adrenaline fueled mouth before I could process it, and his head snapped up, this time so he could stare at me incredulously.

"'Pretty'?" He questioned me in disbelief, arching a slender blond brow.

"(Y/N)!" My brother snapped at the same time, horrified with my behavior.

I blinked, suddenly processing the sounds that had tragically already left my mouth, and blushed lightly at my stupidity. I'd always found the idea of vampires kind of…romantic (and no, before you ask, I don't enjoy Twilight *shudder*) because of how often movies and books were produced as romance or romance/action centered, and I knew they were fake.

But, as with anything, humanity doesn't really know anything, as was proven eight years ago when the bloodsuckers emerged. Despite their brutality and savagery, I couldn't stop seeing them as attractive, but of course, I never ever _ever_ voiced this opinion to any other humans. Doing so would have had me labelled as a leech sympathizer and thrown out of the community.

I recovered quickly, defending my slip, "They're a pretty shade of blue, Jay," I snapped, eyes never leaving the blond. "Like the sky. Which we will get to keep waking up to, _thanks to him._ " A very light pink blush dusted his cheeks and he stared at the ground morosely while my siblings scampered back to our home, Jay glaring at me in hurt betrayal the whole way. "Mikaela," I eventually said quietly, knowing he could hear me, anyway.

He started and his sapphire eyes moved up to my face, inquisitive and guarded. No doubt wondering how I knew his name and if I was going to attack him now that the young ones were gone.

"Thank you," I told him sincerely before turning to leave.

But before I did, I could've sworn I saw his eyes soften with gratitude and tear up the slightest bit.

Accompanied by just the barest flicker of a nostalgic smile.


End file.
